Kristína Kučová (; born 23 May 1990) is a Slovak
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. On 12 September 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 71. On 5 October 2009, she peaked at No. 168 in the WTA doubles rankings.
She has won one singles title on the
WTA Challenger Tour with eleven singles titles and five doubles titles on the
ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players.
History
It serves as a developmenta ...
.
Kučová was an accomplished junior player, having won the
girls' singles title at the 2007 US Open and reaching a combined career-high junior ranking of world No. 3, on 10 September 2009.
Playing for
Slovakia Fed Cup team, she has a win–loss record of 1–5.
Personal life
Kučová's elder sister
Zuzana retired from the professional tour in 2013.
Tennis career
Junior years
At the
2007 US Open, the unseeded Kučová took the girls' singles title, defeating the 13th seed
Julia Glushko in the third round, top seed and defending champion
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (; born 3 July 1991) is a Russian professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 11 on 8 November 2021. Pavlyuchenkova has won twelve singles titles ...
in the quarterfinals, and number two seed
Urszula Radwańska
Urszula Radwańska (; born 7 December 1990) is a Polish professional tennis player.
Radwańska has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as seven singles and eleven doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 8 October 2012, she reac ...
in the final. Kučová also reached the
2007 Wimbledon Championships and
2007 French Open girls' doubles quarterfinals. She reached the French Open quarterfinals with her compatriot
Klaudia Boczová, losing to the eventual champions and third seeds,
Ksenia Milevskaya and Urszula Radwańska. With her compatriot
Lenka Juríková, she reached the
Wimbledon quarterfinals and lost to the eventual runners-up
Misaki Doi and
Kurumi Nara.
2014
Kučová started the year in the qualifying for
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
where she lost to Misaki Doi, then she lost in the first round of qualifying for the
Australian Open to
Paula Kania in three sets. She lost in qualifying for
Doha
Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
to
Mirjana Lučić-Baroni in straight sets, and also in
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
where she lost to
Flavia Pennetta. She managed to qualify for
Katowice
Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
and then beat
Monica Niculescu 6–1, 6–1 in the first round, before losing to
Alizé Cornet. She lost in qualifying for the
French Open to the wildcard
Irina Ramialison, 1–6, 0–6, and in qualifying for
Wimbledon to
Maryna Zanevska.
She reached her first WTA Tour semifinal at
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
by beating
Anna Schmiedlová,
Cristina Dinu and
Danka Kovinić, before losing to
Roberta Vinci 1–6, 3–6 in the semifinals. She won the $50k event in
Sobota, Poland by beating
Sesil Karatantcheva in the final. She won a $25k event in Fleurus, Belgium by beating
Evgeniya Rodina in the final. She lost in the second round of qualifying in
Linz
Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...
to
Anna-Lena Friedsam, and in the first round of qualifying for
Limoges
Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...
to
Katarzyna Piter
Katarzyna Piter (; born 16 February 1991) is a Polish professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
In May 2014, she reached her career-high ranking of No. 95 in singles and in July 2022, No. 66 in doubles. She has won three doubles ti ...
.
2016: Breakthrough, Canadian Open semifinalist and top 100
Kučová failed to qualify for the
Australian Open. She lost in the final qualifying round to
Wang Yafan, despite having a match point in the second set.
After defeating
Stefanie Vögele and
Hsieh Su-wei, Kučová reached the quarterfinals in
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
, where she lost to the second seed
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina (, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and No. 108 in doubles by the WTA rankings, WTA. Svitolina has won 18 WTA Tour single ...
despite winning the first set 6–1.
She qualified for the main draw of the
Canadian Open by defeating
Erin Routliffe and
Christina McHale. She upset
Yanina Wickmayer in the first round, who had won the singles and doubles titles in
Washington the week before. In the second round, she caused a bigger upset by defeating the No. 8 seed,
Carla Suárez Navarro, setting up a third-round clash with the Canadian
Eugenie Bouchard. Kučová won the match in three sets to reach her first WTA Premier-level quarterfinal, where she beat the 15th seed,
Johanna Konta, in straight sets. She was eventually eliminated in the semifinals by the tenth seed,
Madison Keys. Following the tournament, she broke into the top 100 for the first time in her career.
2019–23: First WTA 125 title, Maiden WTA Tour final
Kučová won her first
WTA 125 title at the
Sparta Prague Open, defeating
Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the final.
At the
2021 Miami Open, she qualified for the main draw and proceeded to face
world No. 1 and
defending champion,
Ashleigh Barty, in the second round, losing the match in three sets
In July 2021, she reached her first WTA 250 final, at the
Poland Open, but lost to
Maryna Zanevska.
At the
2021 US Open, Kučová qualified for the first time in five years, after entering the main draw as lucky loser, and won her first match at this major against
Ann Li. She lost to 12th seed
Simona Halep in the second round.
In January 2023, she entered the
Australian Open using protected ranking, losing in the first round to qualifier
Diana Shnaider in straight sets.
Performance timelines
''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''
Singles
''Current through the 2023 Madrid Open.''
Doubles
WTA Tour finals
Singles: 1 (runner-up)
WTA Challenger finals
Singles: 1 (title)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 25 (11 titles, 14 runner–ups)
Doubles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner–ups)
Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup participation
Singles (1–3)
Doubles (0–2)
Junior Grand Slam tournament finals
Girls' singles: 1 (title)
Head-to-head record
Top 10 wins
Notes
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kucova, Kristina
1990 births
Living people
Tennis players from Bratislava
Slovak female tennis players
US Open (tennis) junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles
21st-century Slovak sportswomen